There is a famous saying that maturity is not defined by age. In other words, maturity is an attitude built by experiences. In the novel of To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the main character and narrator, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, matures through her own experiences from a young child to become a compassionate young lady. During the 1930s the town of Maycomb, Alabama deals with many social issues that involve the class system, racial segregation, cult of domesticity, and educational equality. With this said, in the novel, the main character, Scout, loses her childish innocence and matures by learning from her elders, discovering the true identity of Arthur “Boo” Radley and experiencing the unfair Tom Robinson Trial as the story progresses
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One pattern seen in Scout 's initial behavior is how fighting is her solution to all the conflicts she encounters; she pursues Walter Cunningham Jr. after getting in trouble on the first day of school, she has one altercation with Dill when he did not pay attention to her, and nearly starts a fight with a classmate named Cecil Jacobs. Her lack of self-discipline as well as her short tempered nature show that Scout utilizes fighting as an easy solution for all of her conflicts. Unlike most girls, Scout is a tomboy and she is seen as an aberration by Aunt Alexandra. In Chapter 9, Scout states, “I suggested that one could be a ray of sunshine in pants just as well, but Aunty said that one had to behave like a sunbeam, that I was born good but had grown progressively worse every year.” (Lee 108). Aunt Alexandra, who stays with the Finch Family for the betterment of Scout, infuriates Scout because Scout’s pants are symbolic of her independent personality. Besides her boyishness, Scout is extremely intelligent. For instance, she reads at an advanced level at home with the help of Atticus, which is disallowed once discovered by Ms. Caroline. However, she has an apparent lack of empathy when she fails to understand the reason for Walter Cunningham’s boorishness at the dining table when she invites him for lunch. She rudely says to Calpurnia, “He would probably have poured it into his milk glass had I not asked what the Sam Hill he was doing.” (Lee 32). As seen from this moment, Scout lacks conversational boundaries and is quite outspoken. In consequence, Calpurnia disciplines her to be at least hospitable for inviting him. Another example of her immaturity is when she is lured into thinking that Boo Radley is a phantom because of Jem’s stories as well as the rumors spread about him including how Boo stabbed his own father. On a
One pattern seen in Scout 's initial behavior is how fighting is her solution to all the conflicts she encounters; she pursues Walter Cunningham Jr. after getting in trouble on the first day of school, she has one altercation with Dill when he did not pay attention to her, and nearly starts a fight with a classmate named Cecil Jacobs. Her lack of self-discipline as well as her short tempered nature show that Scout utilizes fighting as an easy solution for all of her conflicts. Unlike most girls, Scout is a tomboy and she is seen as an aberration by Aunt Alexandra. In Chapter 9, Scout states, “I suggested that one could be a ray of sunshine in pants just as well, but Aunty said that one had to behave like a sunbeam, that I was born good but had grown progressively worse every year.” (Lee 108). Aunt Alexandra, who stays with the Finch Family for the betterment of Scout, infuriates Scout because Scout’s pants are symbolic of her independent personality. Besides her boyishness, Scout is extremely intelligent. For instance, she reads at an advanced level at home with the help of Atticus, which is disallowed once discovered by Ms. Caroline. However, she has an apparent lack of empathy when she fails to understand the reason for Walter Cunningham’s boorishness at the dining table when she invites him for lunch. She rudely says to Calpurnia, “He would probably have poured it into his milk glass had I not asked what the Sam Hill he was doing.” (Lee 32). As seen from this moment, Scout lacks conversational boundaries and is quite outspoken. In consequence, Calpurnia disciplines her to be at least hospitable for inviting him. Another example of her immaturity is when she is lured into thinking that Boo Radley is a phantom because of Jem’s stories as well as the rumors spread about him including how Boo stabbed his own father. On a